Jillian Michaels Launches Supplement Line
June 30, 2009
Jillian Michaels, New York Times bestselling author and renowned wellness coach from NBC’s The Biggest Loser announces her first ever line of weight-loss products in partnership with ThinCare International. The new products will officially launch at the 2009 National Association of Chain Drug Stores Marketplace in Boston, Massachusetts on June 29, 2009.
Scientifically Developed
The new products are designed to help individuals overcome a few of the pitfalls to successful weight loss - not having the willpower to reduce caloric intake, and not seeing and feeling results quickly enough to motivate and continue toward a healthier lifestyle.
“For quite some time I had been personally searching to develop the right natural products to help people achieve their weight-loss goals,” says Michaels. “I always emphasize the importance of integrating fitness, nutrition, and changes of behavior in order to empower individuals to reach both their physical and psychological goals. Finally, my new line developed the right products to not only support myself but for others in their journey.”
The new Jillian Michaels line will feature “Maximum Strength Calorie Control” “Maximum Strength Fat Burner” “Triple Process Total Body Detox & Cleanse Plus Probiotic Replenishment” and the “QuickStart Rapid Weight Loss System” which contains both the Fat Burner and the Calorie Control at a reduced price.
“We are extremely happy to be working with Jillian Michaels,” says Gina Daines, spokesperson for ThinCare. “Jillian is a true icon and we are excited to be able to help people reach their weight-loss goals.” “Our partnership with ThinCare allows Empowered Media to further develop our ongoing strategy to expand the Jillian Michaels brand,” says Empowered Media CEO, Giancarlo Chersich. “We want to provide our customers with a total life solution and this partnership helps us round out our platform. Together, we have developed healthy and innovative natural products that will help consumers manage their weight-loss goals. Since the products are natural, they represent the kind of health and wellness lifestyle that Jillian always promotes. We are looking forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship.” Jillian Michaels’ products will be sold at GNC, Wal-Mart, Walgreens, CVS, Rite-Aid, Target and most chain grocery stores. For more information visit, www.jillianweightloss.com.
Magnum Nutraceuticals Hires New VP
June 30, 2009
Canadian supplement company “Magnum Nutraceuticals” has just announced the appointment of one of the top sales executives in the supplement industry. His name is Bert Neibergall and on top of sporting massive 20 inch pythons, he’s also got 15 years of sports supplement sales experience! Bert has worked for many of the top Canadian supplement companies in the industry and has a vast set of sales and manufacturing contacts throughout the world. Bert will be filling the role of Vice President which is a very smart hire.
Who Is Magnum Nutraceuticals?
Magnum was founded in 2005 by a cool cat named Markus Kaulius. He once told me at a tradeshow 
in Toronto that he started the company right out of his house! Hats off to him though because after years of hard work and plenty of ads in Status Fitness magazine, the line caught on and it’s now doing very well. Magnum always has the latest cutting-edge ingredients in their formulas and use catchy brand names such as: Serum, A-Bomb and Big C to appeal to bodybuilding and MMA junkies. Magnum uses some of the funniest names for their products but make no mistake, many dudes love this line! Neibergall will be working with the Magnum team to expand the product line further into International markets. Watch for this line to show up in Australia, England, Italy and Spain right away.
“Having Bert join Magnum Nutraceuticals will benefit us greatly, due to his leadership and industry knowledge at all levels.” stated Magnum President Markus Kaulius.
You can check find out more about Magnum Nutraceuticals by visiting www.hardmagnum.com.
Marlon Byrd Gets Supplements From Victor Conte
June 30, 2009
Rangers outfielder Marlon Byrd says he’s got nothing to hide and no problem with people knowing he takes supplements provided by the infamous Victor Conte.
“Because of his name, it’s probably a sore subject for a lot of people because of what he did in the past,” Byrd said Friday. “But, me, I’m an honest guy, these are just supplements that I take.” Byrd said this is the second season he has gotten supplements from Conte, the founder of the BALCO Labs (a.k.a. Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative).
BALCO LABS
BALCO was at the centre of a wide-ranging scandal involving undetectable steroids that several top-level athletes, including Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery and Barry Bonds were stacking. Conte pleaded guilty to steroid distribution in July 2005 and served four months in jail. Conte’s supplement company “Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning (SNAC)“ is supplying many top athletes with dietary supplements.
“I searched for a long time trying to find the right supplements, the right company to use, and I think I found the right one,” Byrd said. “I’m not concerned. I’m not going to test positive. I’m taking the right things for my body and I know that. When his name comes up, there’s always concern, especially in sports ... It’s something that I don’t want to hide. It’s also something I didn’t want coming out where someone was snooping where it looks bad,” he said. “If I get crucified now for my honesty, what can I do?”
Interestingly, before connecting with Victor Conte, Byrd said he used another company’s supplements that have since been found to provide false positives!
SOURCE: Body Of Science
Super Green Tea
June 26, 2009
A company called “Blue California” has launched a 95 percent EGCG tea extract! This is their first EGCG (Epigallocatechin gallate) product. EGCG is the compound in green tea responsible for its ability to raise metabolism and the one most supplement companies add to their diet pills just to allow them to “legally” claim that their product helps users lose fat via an increase in the number of calories burned. However, green tea has actually never been shown to cause weight loss on its own. Anyway, Blue California’s other green tea extracts are L-theanine (98 percent), Natural Caffeine (99 percent) and Green Tea Extract (98 percent). The new offering is taste, color and odor-free and Blue California emphasized its low in cost.
“We have studied the market and we are confident that our ingredient will compete in quality with the best in the market but at a much better price,” executive vice president, Cecilia McCollum, told NutraIngredients-USA.com. “It can be used in beverages, functional foods, cosmetics, topical creams as well as cosmeceuticals, weight loss dietary supplements and antioxidant/anti-aging formulas,” McCollum said the US market would be the primary focus but international potential existed. “Many of our major customers have divisions in Europe, Latin America and Asia, thus, finished products with this ingredient will be available throughout the world,” she said.
Growing consumer awareness and education was creating a market where consumers expected more from functional ingredients, she observed.
“There is a growing need for higher-purity and quality ingredients,” she said. “With this economy consumers are learning to spend their money wisely and manufacturers have learned painful lessons from using lower quality materials in order to reduce costs.”
SOURCE: Nutraingredients.com
MUSCLEPHARM Products Get Vitamin Shoppe Distribution
June 26, 2009
A small supplement company called “MUSCLEPHARM” has announce their much-anticipated product launch through each of Vitamin Shoppe’s 400+ locations nationwide.
“We are very excited about this nationwide launch of our entire line of products,” MUSCLEPHARM president Brad Pyatt states emphatically. “We are now available to athletes in nearly every neighborhood across the nation! Vitamin Shoppe is a top-quality company, whose customers are knowledgeable and serious about their supplements. At MUSCLEPHARM, we understand that…”
About Vitamin Shoppe
Vitamin Shoppe is a leading specialty retailer and direct marketer of nutritional products based in North Bergen, New Jersey. The company sells vitamins, minerals, nutritional supplements, herbs, sports nutrition formulas, homeopathic remedies, green living products, and health and beauty aids to customers located primarily in the United States. The company carries national brand products as well as exclusive products under the Vitamin Shoppe, BodyTech, MD Select, and VS Basics proprietary brands. The Vitamin Shoppe conducts business through more than 400 company-owned retail stores, national mail order catalogs, and websites.
SOURCE: PR NEWSWIRE
OHYEAH! RTD Now In 3 New Flavors
June 25, 2009
If you’ve been watching the supplement marketplace as closely as I have, you’ve noticed that there have been two areas growing in the industry: 1. Products which are convenient to consume (on-the-go nutrition). 2. Products that taste great. But every few years a supplement company has been able to combine these two consumer benefits and build an unbelievable product that’s not only convenient, but also tastes great. Now that’s a product that’s worth talking about and one that’s worth telling a friend to try isn’t it?
Some Of My Favorite Portable Supplements
Two of my favorite “on the go” nutrition products are the chocolate Muscle Milk RTD (only the “Lite” version please) and of course, ISS Research’s “OhYeah!” bars. If you’ve had one bite of any of these amazing bars, you’ll agree that they taste better than most candy bars! In fact, back in 2007 I once got a free case of every flavor of the OhYeah! bars right from the owner himself (Ron McAfee) and I ate an entire box in one day! Yes, 12 bars! I just couldn’t stop eating them they were that good.
OhYeah! RTDs
In the last year, the folks at ISS decided to launch an RTD version of their delicious bar and it’s been a phenomenal success ever since. At first they introduced Chocolate and Vanilla but the line up now features 3 new flavors which were launched last week (Stawberries & Creme, Banana & Creme, and of course Cookies & Crème). I picked up a bottle of the Cookies & Crème flavor the other day at the gym and I 
must say it was absolutely amazing tasting! In fact, after I chugged it back I yelled “OHYEAH!” then cranked out 10 reps with 405 on the bench! Not really, but the stuff was damn tasty! OhYeah! RTDs are low in sugar (3 grams), lactose free, and best of all they’re packed with 32 grams of protein. With Europa distributing the product (which is THE top supplement distributor in the world) there’s no doubt in my mind that this product will be in every health food store, gym, 711, Chevron, and any other gas station or convenience store in the country within 6 months.
Vitamin E May Fight Baldness
June 25, 2009
Daily supplements of a patented Vitamin E complex may increase hair growth in people with male pattern baldness by 42 percent, suggests a new study from Carotech. The eight month randomized, placebo-controlled trial involved 28 volunteers with androgenetic alopecia (male pattern baldness).
“This is the first ever study to report such benefits for tocotrienols,” Dr Sharon Ling, regional sales manager for Carotech. Dr Ling will present the findings at next week’s Vitafoods International Conference in Geneva.
Male Pattern Baldness
According to the American Medical Association, about 95 per cent of all cases of hair loss are due to male pattern baldness, a condition that affects about 40 million American men. The balding is reported to start by the age of 30 in 25 per cent of men, and in two-thirds by the age of 60. According to the AMA, there is a 4 in 7 chance of inheriting the baldness gene.
Research Study
Malaysian researchers conducted an 8 month, double blind placebo-controlled clinical trial on volunteers with male pattern baldness using Carotech’s Tocomin SupraBio, a patented tocotrienol complex reported to increase oral absorption of tocotrienols by 300 per cent. During the course of the study, instructions were given to not alter their hairstyle, hair care products (shampoo, conditioners, etc) or dye their hair. Volunteers were randomly assigned to the palm tocotrienol complex (total tocotrienol intake of 100 mg) or the placebo. Hair counts, measured by the counting the number of hairs in a pre-selected 2×2 cm area, were found to significantly increase by an average of 41.8 per cent in the tocotrienol group, with eight volunteers experiencing greater than 50 per cent hair growth. In the placebo group, however, no statistically significant differences in the number of hairs were detected before or after the study period, and only one volunteer showed more than 20 per cent increase in hair count.
The Vitamin E Family
There are 8 forms of vitamin E: four tocopherols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta) and four tocotrienols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta). Alpha-tocopherol is the main source found in supplements and in the European diet, while gamma-tocopherol is the most common form in the American diet. Tocotrienols (TCT) are only minor components in plants, although several sources with relatively high levels include palm oil, cereal grains and rice bran. While the majority of research on vitamin E has focused on alpha-Toc, studies into tocotrienols account for less than one per cent of all research into vitamin E.
Stamina-Rx Recalled By FDA
June 17, 2009
Before we get tot he Stamina-Rx Recall, let’s start by saying that Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals is a supplement company that’s been surrounded by more controversy than any other supplement company we’ve looked at here at SupplementGenius.com. Let’s go over their rap sheet thus far:
- Plotting to kill an FDA agent. (My favorite!)
- Blackmailing an assistant U.S. attorney.
- Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals co-founder is jailed for possession of a “firearm silencer.”
- Using the herbal stimulant ephedra in diet pills after the FDA banned its use.
- Selling supplements that actually contained the active ingredients of prescription drugs to increase the potency of the product.
- Importing and selling steroids.
- Manufacturing phony ecstasy tablets that were sold on U.S. streets.
- Creating a muscle-building GHB drink but cleverly marketing it as a cleaning solution for your floors in an effort to mislead investigators. Click HERE to read more!
Stamina-Rx Recall
Well now the there’s a massive recall on all lots of its Stamina-Rx product, six weeks after the company was informed by FDA that lab tests showed the presence of undeclared benzamidenafil, a pharmaceutical used for treating erectile dysfunction. The products were marketed as dietary supplements, although the presence of a drug makes them adulterated products; further, in its May 1 letter to Hi-Tech, FDA added the marketing of the products online and in product labeling positioned the products as unapproved new drugs, not dietary supplements.
Not Their First Offense!
Hi-Tech has been under a Consent Decree of Permanent Injunction with FDA since late 2003, after the agency found Stamina-Rx products made by Hi-Tech’s partner NVE
Inc. contained undeclared tadalafil, another drug for treating erectile dysfunction. You may recognized NVE Inc. as the company behind the brands Stacker 2 and 6-Hour Power Extreme energy shots.
Source: Natural Products Insider
Muscle Milk Lawsuit
June 10, 2009
The newest Muscle Milk lawsuit revolves around a little problem they have with The National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureau! This governing body has referred advertising claims made by CytoSport Beverage Company for its Muscle Milk product to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for further review. This happened after CytoSport decided to not back down to an NAD challenge on their product Muscle Milk.
Meet The Challenger
The NAD requested that CytoSport provide substantiation for certain advertising claims, following a challenge by Nestle USA. Hmmm, the post gets suddenly more interesting now doesn’t it? Especially when you consider that back in 1985, Nestle acquired Carnation (makers of Carnation’s Instant Breakfast - pictured on left). Maybe Nestle saw the new Muscle Milk RTDs (which are being distributed by Pepsi) as a threat to their Instant Breakfast RTD business!?
The Claim
Nestle held that Muscle Milk, marketed as a “High Protein Chocolate Milk Shake” is a dietary supplement that is sold in grocery and convenience stores alongside milk and other consumer beverages. Nestle maintained that the claim “Muscle Milk” is false and misleading because it claims that the product contains actual milk when it does not and that consumers are likely to be misled into thinking that they’re buying a flavored or supplemented milk product, when in fact, the product is a water-based dietary supplement.
Cytosport Stance
Cytosport maintained that the claims for its product are truthful and non-misleading and that Muscle Milk, is a non-deceptive registered trademark. It advised NAD that because it believed NAD review was not appropriate or necessary, it would decline to participate in the NAD self-regulatory forum. As a result, NAD has referred the matter to the FTC and FDA.
SOURCE: National Advertising Division
Kilo Sports Raid
June 10, 2009
Noted steroid expert and published author Anthony Roberts has been investigating the rumor that supplement company “Kilo Sports” has been raided by the FDA and/or DEA. Well according to Anthony’s Blog, the rumor has been confirmed:
“Details are sketchy right now, but I am 100% sure they’ve been raided, although thus far, calls to the DEA and FDA have netted me almost nothing useful. There are strong indications that
the FDA or DEA may have a problem with some of their products such as Trenadrol (17b-Methoxy-Trienbolone™), Phera-Mass (17a-Methyl-Etioallocholan-2-Ene-17b-Ol) - which I’m not sure is still in production, but can still be purchased online here and there - or their Oxanavar (2,3a-Epithio-17a-Methyletioallo Cholan-17b-Ol). Of course this is only speculation on my part, based on previous FDA/DEA activities related to the nutritional industry.”
Anthony Roberts is always on top of the latest news in the world of bodybuilding. His blog can be read at: AnthonyRobertsOnline.com